Shipping, housekeeping and other studio musings...

Hello and welcome to my Monday blog

This week I have shipped a larger framed painting to a new home.

I think this new owner will be quite busy unwrapping it.

Most of my online sales are small or medium sized

 pieces  which are fairly easy to pack and ship.

  

Masses of bubble wrap, cardboard and brown paper were used for this one

 but just to make sure I put the parcel into a thick plastic sack and sealed it all

 with copious amounts of sticky tape and 'fragile' tape.   It was a huge effort

 but I felt it was necessary to help the parcel arrive in one piece.  Phew!

Now I remember why I usually keep to smaller sizes.

Studio Housekeeping...

Winter is a good time for me to look around my studio and select paintings for sale.

I try not to get too attached to my paintings but some pieces are

 kept back for me to hang in my home and studio gallery. 

  Often an idea for a new piece can come from looking at them.

  I remember hearing the artist Fred Cuming RA  mentioning this in one of his DVDs. 

  He said one of the paintings around his studio can 'spawn' another.

Here are some examples from my collection...

          This is a detail from the centre of a larger piece called 'Mellow Mood'

This small area is interesting enough to translate into a new seascape.

I like the colours too.

The one below is a detail from my painting 'Winter Glow'.

          

This detail is from the upper left in the framed painting.

It has a feeling of a winter moorland.  I like the colours and shapes.

 Another possibility for a new landscape painting.

A third example is this detail from 'Sundown'.

Luscious oils sculpted with a flat brush.

The detail is from the right side of the framed painting.  I really like this one. 

 There is energy in the brush strokes and a sense of urgency about the piece.

The composition and tonal qualities are exciting and these

 little patches of abstraction will kickstart a flurry of painting activity.

There is a reason for showing you these images.

I have heard some painters saying they have difficulty getting 'inspiration'.

For anyone seeking inspiration I would suggest following Fred Cuming's

 advice and take a look at pieces they have already painted. 

  Inspiration might be right in front of them.

Surprise of the week...

Looking through my older paintings I turned one over 

and saw this on the back of my painting 'Mellow Mood'.

I had forgotten it was there having painted on the other side.

It is an old landscape painted over with rough gestural brush strokes.

The resulting image is nothing very inspiring until I zoomed in a little...

Suddenly there is something I can use.

I like it and think it could work.

I will try it.

Now it is time to get working.

Until next Monday...

Thank you for visiting.